Related papers: On constraining a transiting exoplanet's rotation …
Using a full frequency-dependent atmosphere code that can incorporate irradiation by a central primary star, we calculate self-consistent boundary conditions for the evolution of the radius of the transiting planet HD 209458b. Using a…
We present a direct method for isolating the component of the starlight blocked by a planet as it transits its host star, and apply it to spectra of the bright transiting planet HD 189733b. We model the global shape of the stellar…
The orbital parameters of extra-solar planets have a significant impact on the probability that the planet will transit the host star. This was recently demonstrated by the transit detection of HD 17156b whose favourable eccentricity and…
Using a 3D GCM, we create dynamical model atmospheres of a representative transiting giant exoplanet, HD 209458b. We post-process these atmospheres with an opacity code to obtain transit radius spectra during the primary transit. Using a…
As a planet transits the face of a star, it accelerates along the line-of-sight. The changing delay in the propagation of photons produces an apparent deceleration of the planet across the sky throughout the transit. This persistent…
Most of our knowledge of extrasolar planets rests on precise radial-velocity measurements, either for direct detection or for confirmation of the planetary origin of photometric transit signals. This has limited our exploration of the…
Rotation and orbital eccentricity both strongly influence planetary climate. Eccentricities can often be measured for exoplanets, but rotation rates are currently difficult or impossible to constrain. Here we examine how the combined…
High-resolution spectroscopy (HRS) plays a crucial role in characterizing exoplanet atmospheres, revealing detailed information about their chemical composition, temperatures, and dynamics. However, inaccuracies in orbital parameters can…
The Rossiter-McLaughlin (RM) effect is the distortion of stellar spectral lines that occurs during eclipses or transits, due to stellar rotation. We assess the future prospects for using the RM effect to measure the alignment of planetary…
We report the spectroscopic detection of mid-infrared emission from the transiting exoplanet HD 209458b. Using archive data taken with the Spitzer/IRS instrument, we have determined the spectrum of HD 209458b between 7.46 and 15.25 microns.…
High-resolution transmission spectroscopy is a powerful method for probing the extended atmospheres of short-period exoplanets. With the advancement of ultra-stable echelle spectrographs and the advent of 30-meter class telescopes on the…
We report on the measurement of transit times for the HD 209458 planetary system from photometry obtained with the MOST (Microvariability & Oscillations of STars) space telescope. Deviations from a constant orbital period can indicate the…
The first transiting extrasolar planet, orbiting HD209458, was a Doppler wobble planet before its transits were discovered with a 10 cm CCD camera. Wide-angle CCD cameras, by monitoring in parallel the light curves of tens of thousands of…
Sodium and potassium signatures in transiting exoplanets can be challenging to isolate from the stellar absorption lines. Here, these challenges are discussed in the framework of Solar System observations, and transits of Mercury in…
Many of the planets discovered via the radial velocity technique are hot Jupiters in 3-5 day orbits with ~10$% chance of transiting their parent star. However, radial velocity surveys for extra-solar planets generally require substantial…
Transmission spectroscopy of Earth-like exoplanets is a potential tool for habitability screening. Transiting planets are present-day "Rosetta Stones" for understanding extrasolar planets because they offer the possibility to characterize…
Robust atmospheric and radiative transfer modeling will be required to properly interpret reflected light and thermal emission spectra of terrestrial exoplanets. This will help break observational degeneracies between the numerous…
A new method for determining the stellar rotation period is proposed here, based on the detection of starspots during transits of an extra-solar planet orbiting its host star. As the planet eclipses the star, it may pass in front of a…
The discovery of transiting extrasolar planets has enabled us a number of interesting stduies. Transit photometry reveals the radius and the orbital inclination of transiting planets, and thereby we can learn the true mass and the density…
We present theoretical predictions for photometric and spectroscopic signatures of rings around transiting extrasolar planets. On the basis of a general formulation for the transiting signature in the stellar light curve and the velocity…